Mattresses typically have quilted panels that are attached to the mattress core to provide the mattress' exterior surfaces, including the upper sleeping surface. During manufacture of the mattress, these quilted panels are produced by panel quilting machines that draw in multiple webs of material including ticking material and foam padding, and quilt the different webs together to form a panel that can be secured to the mattress core.
For the quilt panel machines to work effectively, they need a ready supply of material that can be drawn into the machine as it creates the quilted panel. Typically the material is provided as rolls of fabric or foam, or it may be fan folded and placed in a hamper. Either way, the quilt panel machine will continuously draw the fabric off the roll or out of the hamper as it quilts the panels.
At one point however, the supply of material will need to replaced. This may be because the original roll becomes depleted, or the kinds or colors of the fabric or foam being quilted need to be altered. At that point the panel quilting machine must be stopped to allow the operator to switch out the old supply of material and add in a new supply. In actual practice, the panel quilting machine is stopped quite often thereby causing a substantial amount of downtime for the machine. One study shows that during a typical day of operation, the quilt panel machine is inactive for up to 75% of the time. Much of this downtime arises from the need to change the supply of material.
Changing the supply of material may be time consuming as it requires the operator to remove the old supply, gather the new supply, splice the new supply into the web of material being drawn into the panel quilt machine, and restart operation. Given this, the machine is not being used to its full potential and capital costs are incurred to address this inefficiency.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for providing fabric and materials to a panel quilting machine.